The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1887-10-20
Man and His Jack.Knife.

Prof Otis Mason of the National
museum made an appeal to the public
at large through the Washington Star
the other day for an eighteenth century
jack-knife. That evening, before the
professor finished his dinner, a gentle
man brought to his house rusty and
broken old knife dug up on the battle
field of TiconderOga- found side by
side with the flint blade of an Indian
knife. Yesterday some one, signing
the name of Benjamin Franklin, sent
the professor the knife with which, it
is claimed, Franklin fashioned the
sticks for his kite. 1t is not a jack
knife, but pen-knife of very modern
manufacture, having, as some modern
pocket-knives have, little pair of
scissors in it, in place of one of the
blades. Another gentleman, whose
official position has given him .oppor-
tunity to make such collections, has
promised to give to the museum, not
jack-knife of the eighteenth century,
but collection of Asiatic knives. The
Ticonderoga knife is rusted and the
blade is broken. 1t was long, slen-
der knife of one blade, and originally
the blade turned on hinge or spring
is rusted stiff now.
Every boy knows what a jack-knife
is, and there are very few American
boys who have not owned one. What
a great museum wants of a jack-knife,
though, may puzzle not only the boys,
but some of the old folks, too. There
in lies hidden the prime idea of the
National museum, which is so planned
and arranged that when the grand
scheme is fully perfected it will tell
the story of a man in all his relations.
1t will tell, in object lessons, how he
was Graded, what he played with when
child, how he was dressed. what his
occupations in manhood, how he went
to war, how and what he worshipped,
what ceremonies attended his marriage
and funeral. 1t will tell the story not
only of one man, as he is known and
seen to-day on Pennsylvania avenue,
but of primitive man, of the red. man,
the African, the Esquimau. His social
relations and his employments will be
illustrated. All things laid under con-
tribution for his use or amusement
will have full exposition. And the
jack-knife tells something of this great
story. The jack-knife, Prof. Mason
says, is properly a knife of one blade.
1t derives its name from the French
jacques, which is name given to low,
illiterate. fellows. Their knives had
but one blade. When man learned
to write he had to sharpen his pen, and
carried pen-knife with two OF more
blades. To tell the history of the jack
knife or one-bladed knife would re-
auire large case in the National mu'
scum.
He has the rude stone blades of the
paleolithic and neolithic man, the rude
Savage that lived with the beasts be-
fore perhaps Atlantis sank beneath the
wave, in ages so far back that ever
Hindoo chronology can hardly supply
a measure for the time. Then he has
a long and slender blade of bronze
from Etruria, from the men who liveC
and wrought with exquisite skill il
Italy before Romulus's and sRemus'
time, and who have left beautiful
memorials of their existence, and in
scriptions which no man has ever beel
able to decipher. But the most com
plete part of the collection is that il
iustrating the Indian jack-knife, whicl
the Indian used for every purpose
Blades of stone, flint or slate wer
bound upon hasp of wood or bone
The edges were chipped OF ground til
they were sharp and pointed. The
, when the Indian or Esquimau cam
into contact with the white trade
their knives began to have iron o
steel blades. One Esquimau knife
made out of an old can-opener.